Chapter 19: Forced Participation

Hey guys! Been awhile huh? Okay, here's the deal. I actually managed to get a job, despite this horrible economy, and it happens to be a news paper journalist, so all my writing energy is being spent on interviews, research, and compiling stories. It's actually surprising I had time to update this. Anyways, since I'm busy with work and school now, I'm not going to update as often as I do normally, and unless if I get serious reviews, I'm not going to put in a huge effort. I love writing, but like all of you, I love feedback too. So please review if you want me to update at least fairly regularly. Enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Case Closed or One Piece

Before the conversation continued, a large, circular man stepped out from behind the pirates and spoke. "Get these two out of here, I'll deal with the Heart pirates. Don't need scum dirtying up my lab!" The man complained.

"Rest assured Sentomaru-san, we'll be out of here, shortly." A tall, thin man with a cane spoke.

"Tch. Whatever." He glared at the speckled boy in front of him. "You went through my boss' things, didn't yah?"

"Vegapunk-san, was your boss?" Conan asked surprised.

"What's it to yah?" Sentomaru glared.

"…Nothing, just curious." Conan responded.

"Tch." He snorted and turned away from the kid. "I'm the most tight-lipped person in the Navy, I ain't saying nothin'. Especially about the boss; it's hard enough thinking about his disappearance. He disappeared twenty years ago." After moment, Sentomaru widened his eyes. "Damn it!" He then kicked Conan a few feet away. "You made me talk."

"Hey!" Franky got out his blaster. "He asked you a question; you went against your own word and spoke." He helped the boy get up. He then turned to Blackbeard and the few crewmembers he had in the vicinity. There were about five men with him, none that Franky recognized. One was a weak guy on a sickly horse, another was a thin man who had a cane and a top hat, another had a bazooka-rifle weapon, another was a huge guy with a wrestling mask, and the other was in a guard uniform of some kind, smoking a cigar. Each one looked fairly formidable, and the Heart pirates were down; other than bodily harm the situation couldn't get much worse. It was then Franky noticed something on Conan. "Hey kid…your neck's bleeding."

"Wha…" Feeling around the bandage, Conan inwardly cursed, his neck wound reopened, and he didn't have any gauze on him.

The guy on the horse suddenly came forward, Franky held his position protectively. "Relax…I'm the Blackbeard's doctor, and this is my horse, Stronger. The name's Doc. Q, and I am willing to be of assistance to you boy, all we require is your cooperation in return."

The boy glared. "Define cooperation."

The doctor smiled. "It means you and the big fellow there will quietly come with us, and your friends, the Heart Pirates, won't get hurt." Conan stared disbelievingly. "They're coming with us of course, the more criminals we bring in, the more the Navy and World Government reward us. You're part of the Strawhat crew, are you not?" He gestured to a glowering Franky. "Our reward, is most promising indeed, captain."

"Gwahahaha! It better be. We went through a lot of trouble to find them after all." Blackbeard chuckled, and looked at young detective. "So you're the famous Conan Edogawa?"

Clutching his wound, Conan managed a nod. "How'd you find me?"

"Admiral Aokiji told us your whereabouts, little boy." The man with the cane spoke. "I am Laffitte, I am the crew's navigator."

"Aokiji-san did?" Conan blinked. "You're lying."

"What? You actually thought that Aokiji-bastard was your ally?" Snorted the man with the cigar. "I'm Shiliew, former prison chief at Impel Down and the organizer of the crew. You really live in the clouds, don't yah kid?"

Conan ignored him and continued to question Blackbeard. "Blackbeard-san…you know of my situation, I take it?" After receiving a wider grin in response, Conan took that as a yes. "Then tell me…how in the hell did Vegapunk-san come in contact with the Black Organization, and tell me why you're working with them as well?"

"Gwahaha! Those answers are best discussed on the ship. Think about this carefully, do you really want to prolong this discussion here?" Blackbeard smirked, and pulled one of his pistols out. Conan stood up abruptly, when it was pointed at Bepo's head. "I'm sorry, but I can't leave witnesses. We're getting more than enough money for you and that shipwright, these guys are completely disposable to us."

"…They've got nothing to do with this." Conan argued.

"Oh…but they do." The pirate laughed. "How do you think they knew to trust you?" He laughed at the blank look on the detective's face. "If you want all your answers kid, come with us. Otherwise only two of you, are leaving here alive."

A pregnant silence fell over them, until an annoyed Sentomaru spoke. "Hey! The deal was I get the Heart Pirates, yah bastard!"

An idea to save everyone struck Conan. "T-That's right, Sentomaru-san. You're apart of the Navy, right? Tell me, how can you trust these pirates? Especially ones as heinous as these?"

The inventor looked at him. "Go on."

"Er…think about it." The detective quickly said. "Blackbeard-san is trying to take all the credit for capturing us, and blame whatever mishaps may occur here on Vegapunk-san's lab."

"We are not!" The guy with the wrestling mask spoke up. "We're here for the kid and pirates, that's it!"

"You said the kid, originally." Sentomaru glared at Blackbeard. "Pirate, explain yourself."

Blackbeard and his crew were getting angry at this point. "There's nothing to explain, other than how you're smart enough to invent a cyborg, and dumb enough to fall for this stupid trick." Tensions were rising, Conan could easily sense a fight was about to break out; looking around himself, his eyes widened, but decided it would have to for now. Without thinking, Conan ran back to the wall by the desk, and slammed on a certain button.

"SELF DESTRUCT IN TEN MINUTES." A automated voice spoke through te building, stopping the argument. Sentomaru and Blackbeard looked to Conan, stunned.

"If you don't do what I say, then all of Dr. VegaPunk's research will be gone. I know how to disarm the self-destruct button, but I won't unless if any of you cooperate." The detective explained.

"What makes you think I'll believe that a kid like you would know how to disarm the self-destruct?" Sentomaru glared.

"Wanna risk it?" Conan smirked and turned to an angry Blackbeard. "You really want all this work to go, Blackbeard-san?"

"What is it you want, exactly?" Van Argur, the sniper asked.

"I want you to take the Heart Pirates and Franky back to their sub, and let them go. In return, I'll go with Blackbeard and cooperate." He said.

"Oi kid!" Franky exclaimed. "You can't be serious!"

"I'm perfectly serious." Conan replied. "Blackbeard-san. You know who I am, don't you?"

"HOHO! Yes, the Gorosei were very clear on that!" The captain merrily answered.

"Good, I've got questions for you." The young detective challenged.

"Look forward to them!" Blackbeard chuckled.

Nodding, he turned to the fate technician. "Do we have a deal, Sentomaru-san?"

"…I don't like it, but fine." He grumbled.

"Good." He turned to Franky, Jesus, and a blue-haired man who had ox horns on his helmet. "You three take them to Law's sub-"

"Hey, look at this button, it has a pirate skull on it. I wonder what that means." Everyone froze, and slowly turned to him. Conan twitched, as did Sentomaru; so much for that plan.

!

At Marineford

"Sengoku-taicho!" A vice admiral ran to his office, while the fleet-admiral was going over reports.

"What? Any word on the missing boy yet?" Sengoku demanded.

"No! Actually, Karakuri just blew up! A sighting reported the boy there! Sir, it's likely he's dead."

"NANI?" Sengoku's eyes widened to the size of plates.

At Whitebeard's ship and Revolutionary Ship

"I lost contact with Law's ship!" Haruta ran to the main deck to report, which everyone was looking at him now. "The last conversation I overheard was Conan handing himself over to Blackbeard in exchange for the Heart Pirate's freedom. But then, this Franky-guy pushed some type of button and the Den Den Mushi went static!"

"Franky's with him now?" Chopper exclaimed.

"So it would seem." Robin frowned.

"What island was this on?" Brook asked sipping tea.

"Karakuri! Oyaji! I lost all contact with that island, there's a good chance Conan-kun, Blackbeard, and everyone died!" The young commander yelled.

"W-We need to head over there! Let's go!" Chopper demanded.

"No!" Whitebeard's statement made everyone stand still.

"If he's with Blackbeard, then I know where they're going. He's going to try to take him back to Mariejois." The veteran pirate explained. "Blackbeard needs to present him to the World Government for the prestige.

"Wait. If it's on the way to Mariejois, then…they have to pass through Ivankov's island." Inazuna pointed out.

"I see where you're going with this." Dragon nodded. "Contact Ivankov immediately and tell him to prepare to intercept Blackbeard."

"Yes sir!" Inazuna saluted.

"For the meantime, let us suggest strategy." Robin suggested.

"Agreed." Dragon nodded.

Back at Karakuri

Law and his crew struggled to open their eyes through the snow. The pirate captain batted a stick poking his face in annoyance. He opened his eyes to a little boy, who was staring at him curiously with his grandfather. He quickly shot up, ignoring the kid's surprise and looked around for his men and the boy. To his relief, his men were all completely accounted for, but no Sentomaru, no Strawhat crew member, and new kid-detective. Turning back to the locals, Law asked. "Hey what happened just now?"

"You don't remember mister?" The boy asked. "Some flaming monster carried you guys here, and ran off after some pirate ship."

"Did you see anyone else?" Law asked desperately.

"No." The boy shook his head. "The flaming monster ran here with you guys, but we didn't see anyone else."

"You should come inside lad. You and your crew must be freezing." The old man gestured.

"Ah. How long ago was this?" Law asked.

"We just got here when you guys arrived, so not sure." The boy said.

"I see. May we use your Den Den Mushi." Law clutched his sword. The worst-case scenario just happened, Conan had been captured by Blackbeard.

On Blackbeard's Ship

After struggling to open his eyes, Conan looked up and around himself. He was on a basic hammock with a thin blanket over himself, behind bars, and recognized the familiar movement of a ship rocking back and forth. He noted that his wound from Akainu had been freshly dressed, and he had bandages over his abdomen and parts of his legs. He was dressed in old raggy seat pants, and a t-shirt with an anchor on it. Luckily his glasses were in tack. Crap! His belt! He looked around for it frantically.

"Looking for this?" The detective shot up at the voice and saw a broad and tall woman, who had an appearance of Baga Yaga. She spun his belt around casually as he stared at it in dismay. "Your friend, Gin told us to get this away from you, or there'd be trouble for us."

Narrowing his eyes, Conan demanded. "Who are you?"

"Calm down, no need to be so hostile." She laughed. "I'm Catarina Devon, proud member of the Blackbeard crew."

"Where are you taking me? What is your captain planning?" Conan demanded.

"That's no way to thank a person who helped convince the captain dress your wounds. You got a nasty burn mark from Akainu, after all." To the boy's surprise, a sickly man on a sickly horse came out of the shadows. "I'm Doc. Q, this is my horse, Stronger. The crew's doctor."

"Well, shouldn't you thank us?" Catarina gave toothy grin.

Deciding that cooperation was his best option, he nodded his head sarcastically. "Thank you oh-so-much for your kindness."

"That's better." She laughed. "Now then, we probably should get down to business, how captain?"

"Couldn't agree more." Blackbeard came down from above deck, and faced the detective-boy again. "Good to see you awake, Edogawa-kun. We thought you were dead after that explosion."

"Explosion…" Conan's eyes widened when the events came back to him. He ran up to the bars of the cage and grabbed them desperately. "How long was I out? Where are Law-san and the other?"

"The supernova and his crew got separated from us in consequence of the explosion; the poor boy probably thinks you're dead." Conan turned to his right and saw Jesus, Laffitte, and Augur standing off to the side casually. The sniper continued. "We do, on the other hand…have people you know."

A light came on in the cage across from Conan, he stared and his eyes grew wide with horror. There were Franky and Sentomaru, unconscious and hurt, as well as blue, chained up in shackles. As the detective observed, he realized that neither had been treated from the blast, and also noting the frost bite and burn marks on each of them. Franky's face had practically melted off. "Franky-san! Sentomaru-san!"

"Here's how it's going to work." Conan then noticed Shiliew smoking a cigar next to Franky. "We're going to ask questions, and you're going to answer them. For every question you get right or being truthful, we'll treat an injury of their's, starting with their frostbite."

"But I you answer us falsely for any reason." Conan turned to a large man with blue hair, and looked like a Viking almost. "We make their injuries worse. Me and Shiliew are known for our torture to say the least." Noting the boy didn't recognize him, he smirked. "I'm Avalo Pizzaro, first-mate of the Blackbeard crew."

"…They're not with me. What makes you think I'll cooperate with people who will most likely kill me anyways, for people I don't even know?" Conan managed to ask.

"Really? You don't care?" Shiliew to his cigar and smeared it into Franky's skin, causing his body to wince.

"STOP!" Conan yelled. "I get it! I'll cooperate, I swear!"

Smiling in satisfaction, the prison guard smirked. "Good. We understand each other. Now then…shall we begin?"

"What do you want to know?" Conan asked.

"Tell us where One Piece is, and we'll become your allies against the Black Organization!" Blackbeard declared.